A month and a half had gone by relatively quickly, in this time many members of the class cultivated their mana core with a few almost completing their first star. They hadn't gotten to actually casting any spells as they hadn't covered that portion of the theory yet, that wasn't important now though. Being the last week before the mid-term break the class was going to be assessed on their progress in cultivating their mana cores.
Sora sat at the back of the class with a perplexed look on his face as he could understand how his class was still at the level they were, but witnessing their lack of ability in person was truly surprising. He had spent a full Month cultivating before he finished unsealing his mana veins, he had a total of 2 weeks cultivating properly and building on his mana core to form stars, yet somehow even the more impressive members of the class did worse off.
"I advise you quit now before you embarrass yourself in front of the class, You stagnated for a whole month before seeing an iota of progress so stop now before your lack of talent is made apparent to the whole class", Sora heard from his right. He turned to Narong without any readable emotion on his face and raised an eyebrow in confusion, from what he could tell only 85% of her first star had been completed as things were. And while that may sound good on paper, she had been cultivating for a month and a half by now. Even the most bottom-tier talentless mages never took more than 2 Months to complete a star no matter how average, If her first star was completed within the first month Sora would have been impressed but that wasn't even remotely the case as things stood.
"I would worry about myself if I were you", Sora responded slowly and clearly so she wouldn't need him to repeat himself before turning to face Takada at the front. "As you all know Today will be your very first progress assessment, Depending on your results today some of you may be added to the new elite class programme the school plans to start", Takada started with a blank look on his face effectively stopping Narong from biting back at Sora.
"You will be judged on 3 factors, Mana capacity, Cultivation speed, and Lastly overall Cultivation" " he continued as he directed their attention to yet another device at the front of the class. Unlike the awakening platform, this was a 3 platform structure that had the sections spread out from left to right. At the far left was a mana tracking crystal that determined the total amount of mana a mage gathers per second, it required the mage to place their hand on it and try to cultivate mana for 2 minutes, once the time limit came about their cultivation would be disrupted and a number would be called out from 1 - 100.
The next portion was another stand with a hand imprinted on it; a mage simply placed their hand on the imprint and let the machine scan them, after a minute-long scan the machine would glow one of 5 colors to show their mana capacity; Black for small, Purple for average, Orange for standard, Dark gold for Large and Bright gold for Oceanic. In today's age, Purple might have been called average but that was by the standard of Sora's original time, In today's age basic mages usually started with a Black score and made their way up. That being said the quality of elements you have and the size of your mana capacity are completely unrelated and have no effect on one another. The way a person decked out with Time, Lightning, and Curse magic could have Black level mana capacity, and a person with only wind, water, and earth could have a Bright gold mana capacity, It wasn't likely but it was possible.
Lastly, The last section was similar to the awakening crystal the last platform was a mat under a stand, this time though, the stand would scan the mage in question and determine both their current cultivation level, and the percentage of their next level that they have consolidated thus far.
Takada explained all of this to the students and informed them that their grades would be determined by the culmination quality of the three results put together and given a Letter of Value, though realistically only two of the three grade requirements needed to be met for you to get the grade. The grade qualifications went as follows:
S= 60, Dark Gold & 1 star + at least 10% of the second star consolidated
A*= 50, Orange & 1 star
A= 45, Orange & 90% of the first star consolidated
B= 30, Purple & 80% of the first star consolidated
C= 20, Purple & 70% of the first star consolidated
D= 15, Purple & 65 % of the first star consolidated
E= 10, Purple & 50 % of the first star consolidated
F= 05, Black, & 35% of the first star consolidated
Once everyone understood everything Takada began the assessment and called out the first student; Zhu Longwei. The Young mage walked up with a confident smile as he was silently glad to be first, if he managed to get the highest grades in class despite being first he was guaranteed a place in the elite class as he would be used as a standard for his peers to look up to. Longwei went up to the Cultivation speed test and placed his hand on the Crystal, he calmed his heart and began gathering mana. The first minute had passed and the orc began to glow faintly, it slowly got brighter until it got to the level of a dimly lit torch by the 2nd, and with that, the assessment ended with Longwei scoring a 75 on his speed test.
Longwei then went on to the second section and placed his hand on the print with a confident smirk on his face as though he knew he was destined for something spectacular; The minute passed by and the stand shone a bright Orange hue that brought a satisfied smirk to Longwei's face, this went only to further his belief that he was something special. With that Longwei no longer had anything to worry about, he knew he wouldn't fall short in the next portion and walked over with confidence.
Longwei sat cross-legged with his back against the stand and focused his will on it, the crystal responded and glowed brightly while sending out jolts of electricity before settling down; Longwei had completed his first star and had 15% of his second star completed, and with that Longwei's test was concluded. His final evaluation was a weak S mark, he was certainly talented, but the fact was simply that his mana reserves weren't all that much to behold, nor did he do anything that set him apart from anyone else that would potentially get an S mark. It took the better part of the hour but once again everyone but Sora had done their assessments and gotten their results and they went as follows to make the class ranking:
Zhu Longwei: 75 speed, 1-star basic Orange mana core & 15% of the next star complete. (Grade: S)
Mu Rina: 70 speed, 1-star basic Orange mana core & 12% of the next star complete. (Grade: A*)
Wei Xiren: 50 speed, 1-star basic orange mana core & 8% of the next star complete. (Grade: A*)
Huang Bo-lin: 50 speed, 1-star basic orange mana core & 7% of the next star complete. (Grade: A*)
Yu Narong: 50 speed, 1-star basic Purple mana core & 3% of the next star complete. (Grade: A*)
Mu Hanjin: 48 speed, 1-star basic purple mana core & 1% of the next star complete. (Grade: A)
Xu Ron: 45 speed, 95% of the first basic purple mana core complete & 0% of the next star complete. (Grade: A)
Huang Su-lin: 42 speed, 90% of the first basic purple mana core complete, 0% of the next star complete. (Grade: B)
Xiao Lumin: 40 speed, 75% of the first basic purple mana core complete, 0% of the next star complete. (Grade: B)